Originally posted by FactsPlease
2. After being hit in the back with the second, better aimed shot, yet having enough control of his body's facilities to raise both hands to his punctured throat, clearly realizing he was hit, did not take cover even then. Amazingly, he remained a seated, motionless target for the next head shot.
He was hit pretty close to the spine, so raising his arms was probably just a kind of reflex reaction. As for him not moving, have you ever been hit by something, like a bullet? Your body undergoes such a shock that unless you're already moving, you're not going anywhere.
I suspect, the head shot was fired to the center of his forehead by a well placed marksman, yet the windshield may have deflected the bullet slightly which accounted for a slight deviation in trajectory of the round which hit him to the left of the center (looking from the shooter's perspective)
No, probably not a deflection. If you watch the Zapruder film, just before the explosive headshot, JFK drops forward a little. Some say this is a result of the third shot (from the rear) hitting a fraction of a second before the fourth shot (from the front), which blew chunks of his head backward onto the the trunk and the following motorcycle cops. Hard to say. I think it looks like his head drops forward because the initial shock is wearing off and the inertia as the car is coming to a near stop sort of makes him fall forward a little. Anyway, that would be enough of a move to throw off a shot an inch or two.
Actually, I think the shooter was just trying to get a good shot at whatever target they had available. Still, pretty good shooting, overall. A couple of inches either way and it could have been a non-fatal wound or a complete miss.
